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Madame Blueberry (episode)
'Madame Blueberry '''is the tenth episode of VeggieTales This story's protagonist is the character with the same name and is loosely based on the French novel "Madame Bovary". Plot The show opens up with Bob alone with Larry driving a vehicle in the background. When Larry drives up, he says that it's his new "Soo-Vee Action Jeep", a thing that Larry has been wanting for a long time. He also says that he also needs the "Soo-Vee Action Camper" next. Wondering how much stuff that Larry needs to be happy, Bob asks for a story based on Larry's desires for new stuff. Hearing Bob's request, the French Peas come by and tell the story of "Madame Blueberry." In the story, Madame Blueberry is a very sad lady because she is ungrateful for all the things she owns. Every day, her butlers (Bob and Larry) come to her tree house to help her around the house. One day, after she cries over things that she doesn't own, Madame Blueberry, Bob, and Larry look out her window and see a new store being built. Then, three crooked salesmen (The Scallions), come by and say that they represent a new store being built down the street, called the Stuff-Mart. They then begin to manipulate Madame Blueberry (through song) that she will be very happy if she buys a lot of items that she doesn't need. Madame Blueberry agrees to go shopping, much to Bob's dismay. On the way to the stuff mart, Madame Blueberry and the rest of the gang notices a poor little girl (Annie) celebrating her birthday with one piece of pie that her family could only afford. She then sings about being thankful for what she has. Madame Blueberry begins to wonder what makes her happy despite being dirt poor, but forgets upon entering the Stuff-Mart. Once inside the giant store, she begins to buy a lot of useless products and has them shipped to her house. At the food court, Madame Blueberry notices a little boy (Junior) excited about a train set that he's always wanted, but his dad says that he can't afford it and asks if he'd like a ball instead. The boy changes his mind by saying yes to the ball, and sings the same song the poor girl sang earlier. Wondering why the children who don't have a lot are happy and she is grumpy while she has a lot, Madame Blueberry realizes that they have happy hearts and that buying a lot of useless things isn't making her any happier. She dismisses the Scallions and heads on home. As the trio head on out, they notice that Madame Blueberry's house is tipping over from the excessive amount of bought items. The gang get in shopping carts (except Larry, who is in a carrying basket) and head over to the house to stop the remaining deliveries from flooding the house. As they head there, the back door begins to open, so the items everywhere in the house begin to pour out and land in the lake behind the house. Bob thinks that her house is alright, but right on cue, the sudden loss of weight causes the house to be flung across the town and crash-land upon a dangerous impact. Later that evening, after the destructive disaster, Madame Blueberry is comforted by her butlers, the poor girl's family, and the little boy with his dad at the picnic table. They begin to sing the same song that the poor girl and the little boy sang earlier and Madame Blueberry believes that everything will turn out alright in the end. Back on the countertop, Bob and Larry are sad about the story and thus are crying. The French Peas appear again and, now in a bossy and pompous manner (despite being guests), remind them that they need to wrap up the episode as soon as possible. Then, they head over to Qwerty for the bible verse of the day. The Bible verse is Proverbs 15:27a: "He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house." Larry decides that he will not get the camper for his jeep and will be happy for what he already owns as the show ends. Characters *Bob the Tomato *Larry the Cucumber *Junior Asparagus *The Scallions *The French Peas *Madame Blueberry *Mike Asparagus *Annie Onion *Annie's Parents *Goliath (Banner) *Fibrilious Minimus (Banner) *Jimmy Gourd (Banner) *Jerry Gourd *Mr. Lunt *Burger Bell Clown *Archibald Asparagus *Pa Grape (Banner) *Buzz-Saw Louie (Banner) *Phil Winklestien (Banner) *Art Bigotti (Banner) *Gladis Mushroom (Banner) *Woman Voice (Singing) *Lovey Asparagus (banner) Songs *VeggieTales Theme Song *I'm So Blue *Stuff-Mart Suite *Stuff Mart Rap *''Love Songs with Mr. Lunt: His Cheeseburger *The Thankfulness Song *What Have We Learned *Stuff Stuff, Mart Mart Production Madame Blueberry was actually conceived during the early process of VeggieTales when Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki were thinking of spoofing classic literature, before Where's God When I'm S-Scared? even came up. Mike Nawrocki read a book on Madame Bovary for college, and after production on VeggieTales started, he wanted to adapt a happy version of the story after seeing how it reminds him about everyone in his life. He also took some basis from Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", where the main character has a change of heart and a big climax. Home media VHS *Word Entertainment (October 5th, 1999) *Lyrick Studios (October 5th, 1999) *Warner Home Video (May 20th, 2003) *Sony Wonder (May 21st, 2003) DVD *Word Entertainment (New Release) *Warner Home Video (May 20th, 2003) *Sony Wonder (May 21st, 2003) Fun Facts Moral *Be grateful for what you have. *Being greedy makes you miserable and very grumpy. Explanations *The kitchen sink being the last item is a visual gag on the term "Everything but the kitchen sink". *Toaster ovens are miniature ovens that work the same way as a regular stove-top one. Trivia *This episode was the first for several things: **The first appearance of Madame Blueberry, as well as the first episode of her and Bob's relationship. It is also the first episode to focus on a female character. **The first episode Mike Nawrocki wrote and directed the story, not counting the first sing-along video, Very Silly Songs. **The first episode Annie appears with other characters known as her parents. She first appeared in The Toy That Saved Christmas with her Grandpa George. **The first episode Mr. Lunt appears without Mr. Nezzer. **The first episode John Wahba, Daniel Patrick O'Brien, Steve Leeper, James Breckenridge, Scott Nelson, Chuck Ramsey, and Jeremy Vickery worked on. ***The first episode to update the cold open by featuring Bob and Larry speaking with more up-to-date voices. ***The first episode to feature the 1998 logo and opening montage, and not the logo and intro from 1993 to 1997. ****However, a prototype VHS cover for the episode as sketched by Joseph Sapulich shows the 1993 logo. ***This is the first time What Have We Learned started without Bob saying "It's time to talk about what we learned today" or "We're over here by Qwerty to talk about what we learned today". Instead, Jean Claude says "Hit it, boys!" to start the song. ***This is the first time Qwerty is positioned at the very corner of the countertop wall (almost touching the wall), though in older episodes he was positioned a few inches away from the wall. Because of this, some viewers confused Qwerty with having been positioned in the middle of the countertop rather than at the end of the right wall. *This episode was the last for several things: **The last episode Chris Olsen worked on. He's been working on VeggieTales at Big Idea since Where's God When I'm S-Scared?. **This was the last episode Cara Bukovski worked on. The first started since Larry-Boy! and the Fib from Outer Space!. **The last episode to feature the countertop segments animated in the 1990's **This was also the last episode where Mike Nawrocki was given an editor's credit, but only during His Cheeseburger. *Mike Nawrocki read the interactive storybook version on King George and the Ducky. *This is the second episode where Bob and Larry don't receive a letter from a child who needs help. *This episode can be featured in Silly Little Thing Called Love. *His Cheeseburger will return in The End of Silliness?, Englishman with an Omelet, The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown, Sing-Alongs: Do the Moo Shoo, Silly Little Thing Called Love, and If I Sang A Silly Song. *The episode was originally set to be released on January 6, 1998, but on November 18, 1997, the release date was rescheduled back to July 21, 1998. *The "Allow Us To Introduce Ourselves" line later became a meme. *The script for this episode was finalized in 1997, one year before this episode was released. *This is the only episode Chris Olsen worked on with John Wahba, Daniel Patrick O'Brien, Steve Leeper, Scott Nelson, Chuck Ramsey and Jeremy Vickery. *The "Nezzer's Clock" Pattern is shown on the pajama display during the shopping sequence. Remarks *Aside from the end, the continuity on Madame Blueberry's hair when she's in the store is off. After Scallion One tells them its time to shop, she has blonde hair. But when he suggests to her about dropping he stuff at her house, she has her regular hair. *The poster depicts the Fib with electric powers, which he never displayed in the episode he was in. *Still waters are shown. *This episode continues the "End of Silliness" story arc started in the previous episode, in which the disastrous results of "The Song of the Cebú" saw Silly Songs with Larry cancelled until further notice, while management fielded other ideas for mid-show songs. *Towards the end of the episode, Bob and Larry are seen crying without any tears in their eyes. *The previews option has a preview for the episode itself.﻿ *Some international releases replace His Cheeseburger with The Water Buffalo Song. Goofs *When Larry and Bob are consoling Madame Blueberry on her sofa, Bob disappears momentarily while Larry fetches tea. *The inside of Madame Blueberry's mouth is missing while shopping through the aisles. *When Larry drives, he is first seen without a mouth. *Closed Captions spell "Soo-Vee" as "Susie". *The shadows on the train set are out of place. *As the camera turns during Junior and his dad singing, the flags and carts in the background are buzzing. The shadows were flickering as well. *When Madame Blueberry moves while sitting, she often clips through the cushion. *After Madame Blueberry gets off the cart, the pea driver glitches a bit. *Annie in one shot is shown with no mouth. *After most of the stuff falls out of the house, both Bob and Madame Blueberry are smaller than how they were from the previous shot. *The air compressor clips through the wall when it flies out the door. Also in the same shot, one of the wood supports for the house glitches a bit. *When the house is flying, there's a black hole in the middle of the house's wood ground. *When Junior and Annie are shown singing in the end, the plate is missing and then it reappears. They are at the end in one shot in the further away shot they are back in the middle of the table. *One shadow renders too late. *In the Brazillian Portuguese Audio News dub of the episode, after the second half of the What Have We Learned song plays and after Bob takes a deep breath, Jean-Claude doesn't say "Well?”, although his mouth moves as he did. *In the VHS release, during the Stuff Mart scene, before it fades to the food court, the closed captioning show Jean Claude’s “After awhile, Madame started to feel a little tired from shopping so hard. So, she decided to take a short break”, but was muted out. Inside References *The Scallions as salesmen is likely a reference to what Scallion One was in the Forgive-o-matic segment. *The way Bob said "Whaddaya suppose that is?" is in the same manner Percy said in the first Larry-Boy episode. *Buzz-Saw Louie appears in a picture cameo above the balls during the moment Dad Asparagus says, "Sure, Junior!". *When Madame Blueberry is spinning around in her chair to look at the butterfly flying by, there is a poster in the background featuring the Fib and Goliath fighting each other on an obscure space planet. Real-World References *Jerry Lewis, born in Newark, NJ, was a comedian and actor, known for his works such as 1963's "The Nutty Professor". He was known currently for hosting telethons supporting the Muscular Dystrophy Association. He passed away on August 20th, 2017. *The way Jean Claude narrates some parts in rhyme is a similar manner towards the Madeline series (a children's series about a little girl in France, and the narrator would rhyme in a dime). *Stuff Mart is a same store of Stein Mart and Big K-Mart *Jeep is a car manufacturer. *Junior mentions the train he wanted was a Casey Junior Deluxe working lights and real live stock smell. It sounds similar to the circus train from Dumbo. *Annie's parents character design was based on Phil Vischer and Lisa Vischer and Annie is voiced by their daughter Shelby Vischer. Fast Forward * The Thankfulness Song would later be used in the original version of the Why We Do What We Do promo. * The instrumental rendition of His Cheeseburger that plays when the camera pans back from the rotating hot dogs would be used in The Ballad of Little Joe during the beginning countertop scene. Quotes Archibald Asparagus: Larry is introduced in full Davy-Crockett-like costume and props for his song Silly Songs is been cancelled until further notice. off-stage Larry the Cucumber: Oh, yeah? pause Well, how am I supposed to get outta this bear trap? Archibald: I'm sure you'll figure something out. Bob the Tomato: Larry, how much stuff do you need to make you happy? Larry the Cucumber: Thoughtfully. I don't know. How much stuff is there? and Larry are crying Bob the Tomato: Oh, that was beautiful! Larry the Cucumber: Hold me Bob! Bob the Tomato: I would if I could, man! Jean Claude: Pull yourselves together! Phillipe: Yes, you have a show to wrap up! Bob the Tomato: Oh, you're right. I'm sorry, where were we? Larry the Cucumber: sobs Madame Blueberry! and Larry crying Jean Claude: All right! That does it! Cue the music! Phillipe: Unless, of course, you have any objections? Bob: No, I don't care, go ahead. Jean-Claude: Hit it boys! the What Have We Learned song, Bob sighs Jean-Claude: Well? Bob: (finally calm) Okay, I can do this. Larry: Me too. Phillipe: All right, but make it snappy! (they leave) Larry: (sniffs for a bit but proceeds) Madame Blueberry learned that being greedy makes you grumpy, but a thankful heart is a happy heart. (smiles)